This blog is a result of the heavy censoring of the media by the military dictatorship regime.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Fiji union says 'unreliable' Lowy poll done when life most grim in the country

Unions says only one poll counts .... the general elections.

The Fiji Islands Council of Trade Unions says the Lowy Institute should be condemned for conducting a survey about the regime in an environment where people's rights are restricted.

FICTU says that people in Fiji are trying very hard not to get on the wrong side of the regime for fear of reprisal, given the poor human rights record of the regime and suppression of strong and credible voices.

Its General Secretary, Attar Singh, says any voice opposing the regime is censored and most organisations operate under censorship for fear of being closed down.

"The Lowy survey was conducted in August when the decrees to wipe out trade unions, workers rights and employment conditions won over several decades was introduced.

"A renowned and outspoken academic lost his job and two trade unionists were arrested for carrying out their normal work. The Methodist Church was refused a permit to hold its conference and Hindus had been told to obtain permits to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna.

"The experts at Lowy should have known that was the worst time to carry out such a survey. The fact that they carried out regardless questions the motives given its proximity with the Forum leaders in Auckland."

Singh says security of life, property and jobs are most important to people of Fiji today. They will not risk these by speaking about anything against the current regime, its activities or better alternatives to even their friends or work colleagues, let alone strangers conducting a survey.

He dismissed the Lowy survey as unreliable saying it does not correctly depict the real picture of what is happening in Fiji.

"All it has achieved is given a false sense of legitimacy and momentary satisfaction to the military regime and its supporters. And the regime has readily interpreted the results as a mandate to rule and delay elections forgetting that mandate to govern can come from a real poll which is the General Elections."

FTUC has also rejected the poll.

Editor's Note: Sources say the CEO of Air Pacific, David Pflieger, in conjunction with the regime appointed attorney general, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, have enlisted the use of public relations consultants from Europe and USA to secure organisational support for both the Essential Industries decree which has now been officially introduced and any subsequent Air Pacific initiatives. Coupfourpointfive has been told US$120,000 is being paid to one PR consultant for three months work on this lobbying campaign. This, after paying US lawyers to draft the decree both in its original form and its current state.

I have just emailed Julia Gillard and asked her to reconsider withdrawing funding to the Lowy institute because of its ignorance to the realities on the ground in Fiji and its seemingly bias reporting !

I have also already received a reply directly from the institute, defending their position in relation to this poll.Of course, I have challenged its bias and misleading representation of the reality on the ground and asked them to contact Usaia of the FDFM to get in touch with the realities in Fiji at the moment !

It might help if Fijians also email the Institute and inform them of the truth and ask them to retract that Poll.

The regime choosing to announce the implementation of it`s anti-union decree to coincide with the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony in NZ says there are some very hurt individuals in the illegal regime.The announcement comes with the engaging of a PR consultancy firm for $120,000.00 to promote the illegal regime over the coming (3) months.Collateral damage has been inflicted on the dictator`s illegal govt by the latest developments where he has been isolated from the highest tournament in the rugby sporting arena and more importantly from the PIF both hosted by NZ and John Keys took center stage as the democratically elected Prime Minister of his country....here in Fiji...illegal pm surrounded by his security detail at the designated venue...big screen...lots of booze and boobs to drown your anger `cause come Monday you will be angrier than ever,however your source of anger will be Australia this time.

Yes ... we are loosing interest in the absurd lowly inertube.They have a serious puncture and will not be able to inflate for a long time .. at least not on the subject of Fiji. We are not interested in their stupid attempt to manipulate the truth. F O lowly.

These are the final phases before the crash. We are into the last stretch!

bottom line is that these things are all in a loss or deep in debt or both.

by the end of this year the FSC loss will have tripled beyond the loss it made last year - and there will be a further reduction in operating farms as these guys close down.

the FSC will struggle to start the crushing next year (i.e have sufficient cane to open the mills) - this year will be the end of the line for many of those farmers - they've been carrying debts and running at loss since 2007 - and their losses have been getting bigger and bigger year on year since 2007 - we can't realistically expect these farmers to survive past this year - the indicators are already there - the ILTB (formerly NLTB) has announced through Qetaki (its General Manager) earlier this year that their bad debts situation is so serious it now threatens the viability of the ILTB - and if thats how it is with the ILTB, then you can imagine what its like with the farmers

there are many reasons why the beetle situation was not addressed until it became rampant - but i think the main reason is lack of funds. if those guys had the funds to do that work they would have done it - its the same as the guys up North who are complaining about the bad roads which are affecting cane farm production up there - they got response from the Govt that the fundsd were lacking to do the roads.

this thing is economic and its coming to a head - and as these next six months unfold we will see the whole thing unravelling. piece by piece.

its already unravelling in downtown Suva - businesses are closing down all over the place here.

PACIFIC leaders have left Fiji in diplomatic limbo, refusing to end the military regime's banishment from the regional forum, despite indications that smaller Pacific nations would push hard for it to be brought back into the fold.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday echoed the official statement of the Pacific Islands Forum when she said the military regime of Commodore Frank Bainimarama - who seized power in a 2006 military coup - would not be readmitted to the forum until it had made concrete steps to restore democracy.

Ms Gillard also played down the significance of a poll released by the Lowy Institute this week showing significant support for Commodore Bainimarama among Fijians, a result the Fijian government has seized upon to claim that the Fijian leader is significantly more popular than Ms Gillard.Advertisement: Story continues below

Speaking shortly before leaving Auckland to return to Canberra, Ms Gillard said the issue of Fiji's return to democracy was too important to be linked to opinion polls.

''This isn't a question for opinion polls, this is a values question, and the central question is whether you believe in democracy,'' Ms Gillard said.

''I do, and that's why we're pressing Fiji for an early return to democracy.''

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi was even more dismissive of the Lowy poll - which showed two thirds of Fijians approve of Commodore Bainimarama's leadership, saying he could not believe the poll reliable as people in Fiji were too afraid to speak out against their leader.

Mr Tuilaepa also pointed out that polls conducted prior to the last eight elections in his country had proved incorrect.

There had been speculation that the forum might extend an olive branch to Commodore Bainimarama's regime, based on recent comments by leaders of some of the other Pacific islands. Kiribati President Anote Tong argued forcefully this week that Fiji should be re-admitted to the forum. However, the Pacific leaders stayed true to form in falling into line behind the region's two superpowers, Australia and New Zealand.

There was also no talk of the 2014 deadline Commodore Bainimarama has set for a return to democracy for Fiji, a deadline New Zealand Prime Minister John Key appeared to endorse this week, despite Australia's continued demand elections be held earlier.

''Leaders reiterated their call for commencement of genuine, inclusive political dialogue in Fiji between parties without preconditions or predetermined outcomes,'' the forum's closing communique read. As well as Fiji, climate change has been a significant topic of conversation with the leaders of the small island nations, many of which are at risk from the rising sea levels and increasingly intense storms many believe will be a consequence of climate change.

I have not seen any research design, statistical analysis and statistical measurements of any propositions in order to eliminate bias and contextualize data for Fiji. Indeed, to support interventionist type policy, theory building and legislation making, by the Lowry/Tebbut network and poll.In business economics measurements must be done to show statistical significance for strategic accountability and good governance. Otherwise, bias will “consume” profit to the demise of business success, as we are witnessing today in the Fiji economy.The Regime and their supporter can play around with the figures as much as they like but unless the calculations show significance, for transparency and public consumption, Fiji will continue to implode. As they say ‘where ignorance is bliss it is folly to be wise”.Dr. Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni elected SDL Member for Lami Open Constituency (deposed 2006).

Thank you Attar. Where is FTUC. Don't say gone quite because Felix and Urai escaped the essential decree! Only FICTU boys targeted! Is it because they stood up to the regime from day one while FTUC was making money from FNPF? Any comments?

@anno.6:03pm..Hold your peace my brother/sister..whatever!!!As we speak,FICTU & FTUC are just names on paper and we have to get over the mentality of fragmentation and point scoring which is obvious in your post.Whoever you are and whatever union you belong to,it`s urgent you contact your reps to update you on the latest developments.On your question on FNPF,advice is... ask your union reps to brief you on the issue.Honestly..I don`t like your smell..if you know what I mean.